My Little Oni: Lost in Hopelessness
by LadyofBlue
Summary: When Rainbow Dash hears about a misterious haunted mansion in the Everfree Forest, she decides to drag her friends to see if the rumors were true. But once inside the mansion, getting out proves to be more difficult than they could ever imagine.
1. The mansion

**This is a fanfic based off from the "Hetalia Axis Powers" fanmade game "HetaOni", with the mane 6 as the main characters. ****The objective from this story remains basically the same from the original: Rainbow Dash hears about a supposedly haunted mansion located in the Everfree forest and decides to drag her friends to go check it out. Once inside the mansion, they must fight for their lives and try to find a way to escape.**

**However, some changes were made because A) I wanted the girls to remain as in-character as possible, B) Because I didn't want this story to happen in the exact same way as HetaOn**i.

**Also, to some things in this story work, the ponies will be human girls. However,**** when describing their appearance, I won't describe their ethnics or body size, only their hair and eye color (because those are pretty much canon). Because let's face it; everyone has their own interpretation on how the ponies should look like as humans.**

**So it's up to your imagination.**

**Okay, now I've talked too much**. **On to the fic!**

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><p><em>A deserted mansion in the middle of Everfree forest<em>

_About three hours of foot from Ponyville_

_No one knows how long has it been there or who used to live in_

_Rumors had it that it was haunted_

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><p>"Guys, we're finally here!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed at the sight of the mansion that stood tall and intimidating in front of them.<p>

"Oh my Celestia, i-it's huge…" Twilight Sparkle said in awe.

It took a while for the six friends to find the mansion mentioned in that urban legend Rainbow Dash had heard the day before. All they knew about it was that it was located somewhere in the middle of the Everfree forest and that's it.

If only that forest wasn't so confusing to walk through.

But after a lot of insistence from Rainbow's part (and some morbid curiosity from the other girl's part too) they finally managed to find the "mysterious haunted mansion" she was talking about.

"Ah have to admit it's pretty impressive," Applejack said crossing her arms. "But ah still can't believe ya actually dragged us to see this."

"Ha ha! Don't try to deny it, you were curious too," the rainbow haired girl said mockingly.

"Okay, just a little."

"Well, I don't think it's that interesting," Rarity said taking some spider web from her skirt. "Seriously, all this walking and exploring this creepy forest just to see this?"

"What? Are you kidding me? Who said we were going to just see this from the outside, after all the trouble we had to find it?" Rainbow grinned. "The door probably is unlocked. Let's go see how it is inside!"

There was a faint whimper from behind her. Rainbow Dash turned around just to see Fluttershy shrinking and hiding an eye behind a bang of her light pink hair. She seemed pretty uneasy near that house.

"Hey, Fluttershy, you okay?" she asked concerned.

"You really want to go in there? What if it's really haunted, like the story said?" the girl asked removing the pesky bang from her blue eye.

"Oh, c'mon! You're not going to tell me that you believe in that story?" Rainbow chuckled.

"No, but… you really are going in there?" Fluttershy asked, her voice showed more disappointment than actual fear.

"You don't know Rainbow? She won't give up until she sees what's so interesting about this place," Pinkie Pie giggled, also excited to explore the house.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to, sugar cube," Applejack said. "Just wait here for us. We promise we won't take long."

"And I can stay here with you, if you want to," Rarity offered.

Fluttershy shook her head and gave a shy smile. Oh well, she should have known that Rainbow Dash wouldn't give up.

"No, if you're going, then I'm going in too. It's better than staying in this creepy forest, right?"

Twilight went ahead and knocked the door out of impulse. She turned the doorknob and slowly opened it, unsure to what expect. The six friends entered the mansion and started to look around, all of them very surprised for the fact that the lights were working and how clean everything looked.

"Wow, you'd think that for an abandoned mansion this place would be a lot messier," Twilight commented.

"Yeah, this looks even tidier than your place Twi," Pinkie joked.

All of a sudden, they heard the sound of something breaking coming from the corridor in their right. Fluttershy jumped and hid behind Rarity, who held her hand like if saying it was okay.

"What was that?" the light pink haired girl shrieked.

"Sounded like something fell off and broke," Rainbow Dash said.

"Ah'll see what happened. Wait here for me," Applejack said walking in direction of the sound.

"Be careful!" Rarity warned, only to be answered with a thumbs up gesture from Applejack.

As Applejack crossed the corridor, she noticed a door on the left wall. She tried opening it out of curiosity, but it was locked. Shrugging it off, she continued walking until she reached the kitchen. Near the sink there was a broken porcelain plate, but something seemed wrong with that scene.

"_How did this fall off and break? There are no windows here, so it wasn't the wind for sure_," she thought as she got a piece of the plate to exanimate.

Unless…

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie's high pitched scream pierced through the air, making Applejack jump. The young woman put the shard on her jeans pocket and came running at their encounter, only to find the hall completely empty.

"What in the tarnation? They left?" she asked in disbelief.

Applejack noticed that the front door was closed and, as she feared when she went to try to open it, locked.

"Guys, this ain't funny! Open the door!" she said out loud, trying to open it one more time.

There wasn't an answer, not even a giggle from Pinkie Pie. Okay, that didn't sound like a prank at all and that definitely wasn't time to panic. She would keep calm and search for them. She took the left corridor to see if any of her friends happened to take that direction.

"Okay, where could they have ran off to?" she thought.

After trying to open yet another locked door, Applejack turned the L corridor. On the end of the corridor thought, she saw something she rather not have seen.

"What…"

A tall and bulky grey creature stood with its back turned to her, giving the blonde a not so nice vision of its butt. Applejack held her breath and stood there paralyzed, as the creature entered in the room ahead and closed the door. A few seconds passed until she could get a reaction.

"What the heck was that?" she thought while controlling herself from screaming. Illusion or not, that mansion was getting really creepy. How she wished she found her friends now…

Applejack made a U-turn and decided to go upstairs. The second floor was as clean and spacious as the ground floor. She turned right and tried opening the door near her. Thankfully, this one was unlocked.

"Guys…?" she asked quietly as she entered.

The room was pretty modest, having only one bed, a desk, a carpet and a closet. As her green eyes scanned the room, she heard a very faint shriek coming from the closet.

"Fluttershy, is that you?" she asked, the tone of her voice a little higher.

"N-No…"

Applejack opened the closet, only to reveal a very shaken Rarity in it. The country girl helped her get out and stand up, thought her legs were still shaken.

"Rarity? Rarity! Please talk to me. Tell me what happened," she tried making her friend calm down, but Rarity was still in too much shock and didn't seem to want to talk.

"_Maybe if I get a cup of water Rarity will calm down,"_ she thought.

Applejack was about to leave the room when Rarity grabbed her arm. The blonde turned around, relieved that at least she wasn't entirely paralyzed.

"W-Where do you think you're going? You can't just leave me here!" the purple haired woman whined.

"Ah was just gonna get a cup of water for you," she answered.

"And where exactly would you get that?"

"Ah dunno. In the kitchen's sink?"

"Eww… that water probably isn't filtered," Rarity stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"Glad to see ya gettin' better," she said sarcastically. "Anyway, what happened?"

"We were waiting for you when that…" she gulped, "grey thing appeared and tried to attack us. And then Pinkie screamed, and then… we went through different ways. I-I don't even know what to say about the others."

There was an awkward silence between them. That really wasn't good. But at least she found Rarity, so that was something, right?

"Okay, let's do this. You stay here and organize your thoughts. Ah'll try to find the others. If ah find at least one of us, ah'll come back, okay?"

Rarity nodded and bit her lower lip. Yes, she just needed to organize her thoughts.

"Oh, if you're going out there, take this with you," she said giving a silver key to her friend. "I found it in the closet. It might be useful."

Applejack took the key and gave her friend a reassuring smile and Rarity hid herself in the closet.

"Let's see where this thing goes…"

There was a "LIBRARY" written in black letters in the key. Twilight sure would like that. Even though it didn't indicate which door was, at least she knew what kind of room that thing opened. Applejack went back to the ground floor and tried opening the first door she found, the one she first tried to open when she went to check the noise out.

And lucky her, that was the library's door. Maybe Twilight teleported herself to there. That was a possibility. Even though she didn't know if people who could do magic could teleport themselves to places they didn't know it existed. If she had all that magic, she would teleport herself outside house, but oh well.

"Twilight, ya there?" she asked.

The library was very large and spacious. But even that large quantity of books didn't manage to make Applejack less bored. Ugh, how Twilight could like a place as boring as that? She walked through the entire library and then went to the table in the lower left of the room to see if she could find anything interesting there. A big red apple caught her attention and the girl got it with hungry green eyes.

"This apple looks delicious!"

However, before she took a bite on the fruit, that huge grey creature jumped out from the books shelves, ready to attack her. Screaming, Applejack dropped the fruit on the floor and escaped from the monster's claws before they could rip her apart. She ran like crazy to the door but then realized something was missing.

"Darnit, the key!" she said desperately turning the doorknob. "Ah must have dropped it!"

Much to her despair, the monster was now blocking her way. Applejack would have to fight, or else, she'd be killed! Taking a deep breath, she ran into the creature's direction, quickly formulating a battle strategy. When she was close enough, the monster tried craving his claws once again on her chest, but Applejack avoided the attack and gave a swift kick on the monster's stomach. Thanks to her having very strong legs, the kick was effective and made the monster let his guard down for a few seconds, the sufficient for her to pass by him and search for the key.

"Where is it? Where is it?"

Finally she found the key on the upper left corner of the room. Of all places she could drop the damn thing she had to drop the farthest possible from the door. Sometimes the universe didn't like copping with her. The monster managed to corner her again and tried attacking her. This time, Applejack wasn't as lucky, as the thing managed to scratch her arm.

"Ugh!" she winced at the pain.

Applejack tried giving a combo of kicks, making the creature retreat little by little. The monster also tried attacking her, but Applejack was agile and managed to avoid each blow. Once the monster started to show signs of exhaustion after some minutes of fighting, Applejack hurried to the door, not even caring on finishing the creature anymore. She quickly unlocked the door and ran away to the second floor.

Thankfully, it seemed like the monster gave up on attacking her, as it wasn't chasing after her anymore. Applejack sighed in relief and fell to her knees on the floor.

"T-That was close…"

Finally the pain in her arm hit her. Cussing under her breath, Applejack put a hand on the injury the monster made. Good thing it wasn't that deep. The bleeding would stop quickly.

She needed to find her friends fast. After that encounter, Applejack was more than determined to find them before that thing did.

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><p><strong>And that's it for the first chapter. Review if you liked it, review if you didn't like it. Just say what you thought! =)<strong>


	2. Missing friends

**Thanks for the reviews, guys! Remember, if there's anything I can improve on my writing, just say it. ^^**

**On to chapter 2!**

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><p>Alright, so the library was a really bad idea. She just needed to stay away from there and she would be fine. Maybe.<p>

"_They are probably in this floor anyway_," she thought.

Applejack started to explore the second floor. There were other six doors, three unlocked and three locked. The other two unlocked rooms looked very similar to the one Rarity was in, only they had more book shelves and no closets.

But her friends were nowhere to be seen.

She then walked upstairs to the third floor. This time there were three doors, two locked and one unlocked. Applejack entered in the only available room, alert to any movement.

"Guys?"

Without any warning, a girl with curly pink hair jumped out from the other side of the bed she was hiding behind, aiming a lamp at Applejack's head.

"Stay away from me you ugly beast!" she shouted.

"Pinkie, are ya nuts?" Applejack yelled as she avoided the lamp. "It's me!"

Suddenly realizing the huge mistake she was about to make Pinkie immediately dropped the lamp on the floor, producing a huge crash noise as it broke in big pieces, and clasped her hands together in an apologizing matter.

"Oh, Applejack! I-I'm so sorry! I thought you were the monster," she said.

"Do ah look like somethin' that came out from a horror story?" Applejack asked in disbelief.

"Jeez, I didn't see it was you. I couldn't see from the place I was hiding," Pinkie pouted.

Applejack sighed and her expression seemed to soften up. "It's okay, ah'm just glad you're okay," she said patting her shoulder.

It was then when she realized that the other's weapon of choice was a lamp.

"Seriously? You were gonna use that to defend yourself?" she said pointing to the broken object.

"And do you have a better idea?"

"There must be somethin' better than this, ah'm sure. Somethin' like… like…"

She looked around the room, only to find the answer on the wall behind her.

"Like this," Applejack took the mace that was decorating the wall and gave it to Pinkie. "Looks like a much better answer, don'tcha think?"

"I guess so… I just hope I won't hurt myself by accident," Pinkie shivered at the thought. "But really, this is a pretty dangerous decoration," she mused while slowly swinging the weapon in an 8 formation.

"If this will help ya defend yourself, ah don't even care if it is decoration. C'mon, Rarity is waiting for us in another room."

The two left the room and silently went to the one Rarity was hiding. Even if Pinkie was dying to tell everything that happened to Applejack, from the fear she was feeling when she saw the monster to how she came to the conclusion of using a lamp to defend herself, she knew when the situation asked for her to be quiet.

After what seemed an eternity of tension, waiting for the monster to appear at any second, they finally reached the room on the second floor.

"Rarity, ah found Pinkie. You can come out," Applejack whispered.

There was no answer. The two exchanged worried looks and came closer to the closet.

"Rarity?" Pinkie asked again. "It's us. You can come out."

Again no answer. Applejack opened the closet's door, fearing for the worse. For their despair, there was no one there.

"B-But you said she was there…" Pinkie was on the verge of tears, "D-Do you think she…?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions. Rarity probably went out to find someone. Or even if the monster found her, which ah doubt that happened, seeing that this room doesn't look like a fight scene happened, she probably escaped from it," Applejack said trying to calm her friend (and herself) down.

"Yeah, you're probably right…"

"Still, it would better if we didn' split up. Or else, we might get lost from each other even more."

They decided to leave the room and search more on the third floor. Maybe they could find another key or anything that could serve as a clue lying around there. Who knows? So they decided to return to the room Pinkie was hiding in.

"Hey, Applejack, look at that lever," Pinkie pointed at a red lever that was on the wall. "What do you think it does?"

Applejack got closer to exanimate the lever better. She had already noticed it when she found Pinkie Pie, but she just didn't give importance to it until now. Next to it was an odd message that read:

"_Up is Heaven_

_Middle is Earth_

_Down is Hell"_

"Nope, still have no idea what this thing does," Applejack muttered.

The two stared at the lever for a while, trying to imagine what would be the consequences if they did the wrong thing. Or at least, Applejack did that. Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie just pushed the lever down without thinking too much about it.

"Are ya crazy? You don't even know if this thin' can kill us!" Applejack said almost jumping on her throat.

"Don't be mad at me!" she said playfully pointing to the bed that moved to the side. "Look, look! I've discovered a passage."

Applejack took a deep breath to calm herself down. Being angry at Pinkie Pie wouldn't make her go back from doing that anyway.

"Ah'm not mad at you, but you need to be more careful. We're in an unknown house. Who knows what can happen if we're reckless?"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry."

The country girl looked at where Pinkie was pointing. Indeed, next to the bed there was a hole on the floor that looked like a passage. Curious, the two came closer to see where that would take them. On the other side they could see only a white floor. They silently walked down the stairs to take a better look.

The room they just entered was entirely white and spacious, with only a white piano in the center and three book shelves serving as decoration.

"Applejack, look at this," Pinkie said as she came closer to the piano. "Why would someone paint red numbers on the keys? It's just so weird."

Something told Applejack that that wasn't red ink. Trying to brush the horrible thoughts off, she decided to concentrate on the piece of paper that was on the piano. She wasn't an expert on music, but she could tell that that wasn't a musical sheet for sure. Pinkie got the paper just in case it could be useful and the two decided to leave the room.

"Hey, I've noticed that we haven't checked the fourth floor yet. Maybe someone is there?" Pinkie suggested.

They then went to the fourth, and last, floor. There were two doors there, one locked and one unlocked. The first thing they noticed when they entered the unlocked room was the sight girl with long light pink hair looking for something in the open closet. Pinkie Pie immediately let go of the mace she was holding, making a loud thud on the wooden floor and causing the girl to turn in their direction. The two ran to hug their friend, relieved that she was alive.

"Fluttershy, you're alright!" Applejack said.

"Oh, girls! I'm so glad to see you are okay!" Fluttershy exclaimed in her usual sweet voice, returning the hug.

"Wow, you must be really afraid of that monster," she commented. "To run to the last floor, you must have been pretty scared."

"Well, actually, I went to hide on the third floor. But after sometime I've decided to explore the place hoping I could find anyone of you."

"You actually wandered through this place all by yourself?" now Pinkie was really surprised. Even she didn't gather that courage in so little time.

"Yeah… I didn't want to stay there. I was getting nervous," Fluttershy said lowering her gaze. "But then I wasn't finding anyone, and I started to get so worried… and…"

"It's okay sugar cube, we're here now," Applejack smiled. "Okay, so the door is locket and the windows are shut down and covered with iron bars, but we'll figure a way outta this mess. But first let's get out of this room."

Pinkie Pie suddenly tensed up and grabbed Applejack's wrist before she could head to the door. With fearful blue eyes, she asked:

"A-Aren't you hearing this?"

Applejack closed her eyes and concentrated on the sound Pinkie was hearing.

"They sound like footsteps…" she opened her eyes, finally realizing what would happen. "Shoot! Everyone get ready! That thing's coming!"

Pinkie quickly retrieved her weapon, while Fluttershy held a small book against her chest tightly. The three girls backed away from the door, just in time for the monster to enter the room.

The creature's cold black eyes targeted Fluttershy, probably because she seemed to be the weakest, and with a swift movement, it ran towards her with its claws prepared to rip her flesh. Pinkie took the opportunity to hit the monster's side with the mace. The creature backed away in pain from the trio and decided to switch targets.

"Ha, ah told ya this would come in handy!" Applejack said.

"YoU… WoN'T… EscApE…" it hissed, glaring at Pinkie Pie for the bleeding wound.

"It talks?" the blonde asked in surprise.

The monster unleashed a wave of purple energy in their direction in such speed that they couldn't avoid, making the three girls fall on the ground in extreme pain. But before the monster could get any closer, Applejack got up and kicked it in the stomach. While it didn't do much damage, it served to make it back away from her friends.

"You stay away from them!"

Pinkie Pie also got up, reading her mace. A shout escaped from her as she saw the monster grabbing Applejack's ankle and throwing her against the wall. With blue eyes burning in anger, Pinkie ran towards the grey creature and hit it on the shoulder and chest.

"Oh, no!" Fluttershy said as the monster grabbed the mace from her friend and threw it away.

She quickly got up and started searching for something on the book she was holding. Pinkie didn't even have time to ask what the heck she was doing, since avoiding the monster's claws was her top priority at that moment. But that didn't pass unnoticed by Applejack, who was contorting in pain because of the harsh throw.

"F-Fluttershy…" Applejack said breathless. "Stop whatever you're doin' and RUN!"

As if obeying her, the timid girl stopped looking through the pages, but instead of running away, she stayed where she was. Applejack looked curiously at Fluttershy as she started murmuring some incoherent words.

"What…"

To her shock, Fluttershy unleashed a beam of white energy that hit the monster right in the head. Howling in pain, the monster fell on the floor, twitching. Realizing that that was its weak spot, Pinkie ran to retrieve the mace and smashed the monster's head twice, spilling some purple blood in the process.

"There, dead," she said bitterly at the creature's corpse. "I-I can't believe I actually… did this… I mean…"

"Ya had to do, or else you would be in its place," Applejack said getting up. The pain wa slowly, yets thankfully, going away. "Ah know it's awkward, and it makes you feel guilty, but it was this thing, or you."

The corpse suddenly started to disappear through thin air, but the two didn't give much importance to it.

"I know," she sighed and forced a smile. "Good thing Fluttershy threw that beam at the monster, or I wouldn't be able to hit its head."

"Yeah, bah the way, what was that…" she turned around, only to see Fluttershy panting on the floor. "Ah, Fluttershy!"

The two ran to aid her friend. Fluttershy apologized with a weak smile and sat up.

"It's okay, it's okay. I'm going to be fine," she said.

"Are ya sure? You seem a little pale," Applejack said analyzing her tired face.

"No, I'll be fine, really. It's just that this spell consumes a lot of energy. I guess I'm not strong enough for this."

"So, about that…"

"Hey, Fluttershy, what's up with this book?" Pinkie Pie asked, not noticing Applejack's annoyed glare for her interrupting.

"Oh, this?" Fluttershy got the book and held it tightly. "It's something I found. It is said to be a book of spells. At first I thought of giving it to Twilight, since she is the one who likes more this sort of thing, but with this monster and everything… I got desperate and decided to try everything I could. I didn't actually think I would be able to cast a spell, but somehow I did."

Something seemed odd with Fluttershy's explanation, but Applejack couldn't quite figure it out what was it. Oh well, that wasn't time to question things.

"At least that thing is dead," Applejack said offering a hand to her. "Ah don't know if we're safe or not, but in case you have to use this book again, take it easy with these spells, okay? When we find Twilight you can show this to her."

"Okay," she said getting up. "By the way, I also found this key here. I think it may be useful."

She gave the silver key to Applejack, who immediately kept it in her pocket.

"Let's go find the others."


	3. The mistery of the piano

**Agh! Sorry for taking so long. And I really have no excuses. X_X" Well, hope you enjoy. I'll try to update faster.**

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><p>"Applejack, before we go find where this key goes, can't we go check on Rarity first?" Pinkie asked after they left the room.<p>

"But she wasn't there when we checked on her," Applejack said.

"I know, but what if she returned? You said you have agreed on meeting each other there right?"

"Pinkie's right. Maybe we should check that room again," Fluttershy said.

"Fine, let's go."

They walked downstairs and went to the second floor, with Applejack walking ahead of the other two, as if she felt the need to lead and protect them. The three entered the room practically praying to Celestia that Rarity would be there.

"Rarity, guess what? Ah found Pinkie AND Fluttershy. You can come out now," Applejack said looking at the closet.

This time, for their relief, the closet opened and Rarity came out of it. She seemed much less tense than before, probably because now four out of six of them were reunited.

"Oh, thank goodness you're alright," she then noticed Applejack's wounds. "Applejack, look at your state! What happened?"

"What do ya think? We got attacked by that thing. But Pinkie managed to kill it, so ah guess we're safe for now."

Pinkie Pie bit her lower lip and looked away, trying to avoid Rarity's surprised look.

"Really? Wow, out of all of us, the least one I expected this…" she shook her head, not wanting to continue. "Anyway, I'm glad you are okay. Applejack, give me your arm."

Applejack extended her arm to her and Rarity ripped a piece of the bed's blanket, using it as a bandage for her arm.

"There you go. Girls, you need to see some…"

"Now we have to see where this key goes," Applejack interrupted her.

"What key?" Rarity asked.

"This one Fluttershy found in the attic. Here it says "Corridor", but ah haven't explored the whole first floor, so ah really don' know what door it is," the blonde said showing the key to her.

"Well, we're not going to know if we keep standing here, right? Let's check it out."

But something was bothering Pinkie Pie, and it had to do with that sheet of paper they've found on the piano. What exactly was that? Could that be useful on helping them finding their friends? She needed to know what that was for.

"Can't we go check the piano room first? There's something bothering me and I really, really, really need to go check it," the pink haired girl said.

"Can't ya just wait? Ah think the key is more important," Applejack said.

"Pleeeeeease?" she asked with her best puppy eyes.

"Ah dunno, Pinkie…"

"Why don't we separate into two teams?" Rarity suggested.

"What do you mean, Rarity?" Fluttershy asked.

"Simple, since we're in four, two of us can go to this piano room Pinkie's talking about and the other two of us can go check the room this key opens. This way nobody will be alone."

"Yeah, let's do this! Who will go with who?" Pinkie asked.

"Do we really need to split up? Now that we are reunited…" Fluttershy said quietly.

"We will be quick, don' worry," Applejack reassured.

"Okay…"

"I can go check the room in the first floor then. Fluttershy, do you want to come with me?" Rarity said.

"Sure, I'll go."

"Then ah'm coming with Pinkie," Applejack said giving the key to Rarity. "You meet us there? We could only open the door from the inside, so you go to the room in the third floor that has a passage on the floor. It will take you to the piano room."

"Got it! Let's go Fluttershy," Rarity made a sign for her friend to follow her.

"Please be careful, you two," the light pink haired girl whispered and the two left the room.

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><p>"Fluttershy dear, you seem awfully quiet," Rarity commented when they reached the first floor. "Is something bothering you?"<p>

"I am? I haven't noticed," Fluttershy said forcing a smile. "I guess I'm still shocked after seeing that scary monster."

"Ugh, you're telling me! I still can't believe that the rumors were right. And I don't even know if I should be mad at Rainbow Dash for bringing us to this horrible place, or at me for letting myself being dragged here."

"I don't blame anyone…"

"Anyway, Applejack said that Pinkie killed that thing, right? So we're safe now."

"… You're right. Let's go check this room and see if we can find Twilight and Rainbow," Fluttershy said.

Rarity raised an eyebrow at what her friend had said, but decided to not comment anything. Fluttershy was probably tired, hence why she said that. They went through the left corridor and stopped at the first door they've found. Rarity put the key in the hole and turned it. Unfortunately that wasn't the right door.

"Maybe if we search in another place?" the light pink haired girl suggested.

The two made a U-turn and went to the living room. There was only a door there, and Rarity really did hope that that was the right one. She put the key on the hole and turned it, unlocking the door.

"Let's see what we have here," she said.

As soon as she opened the door a pair of claws came out from the room, reaching for her throat. Fluttershy screamed and pulled Rarity away from the monster right in time. She then grabbed her hand and the two ran away from it as fast they could. Rarity gulped and looked at Fluttershy's frightened face. If it wasn't for her, she would have been killed in a second.

A shiver went down her spine as she imagined her body cold and lifeless at the floor. She couldn't let that happen to her, or her friend.

The worst part was that the monster was actually pretty fast. However, it wasn't that agile, so the two zigzagged through the living room in order to exhaust it and have a better chance of escaping.

"I'll show this abomination something!" Rarity hissed pointing her white wand at a couch, ready to levitate it and throw it at the monster. But nothing happened. "Uh?"

She couldn't understand it. The mobile didn't move an inch! Why couldn't she levitate the couch? She tried moving it once more, but her wand wasn't working at all! What was happening with her?

"M-My magic… my magic…"

"Rarity, just run!" Fluttershy shouted desperately, tightening the grip on her hand.

The two then ran back to the hall and took the same corridor they were before. They made a sharp turn to the right and entered on the first door they've found, hoping that the creature didn't spot them doing that. Holding their breaths and trying to be as silent as possible, the two went to the upper right corner of the bathroom and sat there.

Seconds passed without any of them making a movement, only hoping that they have made the monster miss them. And seeing that by now the thing didn't invade the room trying to shred them in pieces, the two sighed in relief and got up from where they were hiding.

"I thought Applejack said that Pinkie had killed that monster!" Rarity whimpered.

"That's what I feared. What if there are more of them wandering around here, just waiting to grab us?" Fluttershy said with a growing panic in her voice. "I-I don't want to die, Rarity! I don't want to die!"

"Hey now, come here," Rarity said embracing her in a warm hug. "We're not going to die, okay? We're going to figure it out a way of escaping, and then we'll all have a good horror story to tell everyone when we get back home."

"Y-Yes…" the girl broke from the hug and rubbed her eyes before the tears could fall out. "We ARE going to escape. I can't be that pessimist."

"Good. Now let's get out of here. I don't know about you, but I don't like holding chats near a toilet."

* * *

><p>Pinkie Pie entered the white room skipping through the stair's steps in her usual cheerful way, while Applejack walked right behind her, paying a lot more attention to her surroundings than her hyperactive friend.<p>

"Okay, what do you want to see here that's so important?" Applejack asked.

"This!" Pinkie exclaimed, almost shoving the piece of paper in her friend's face. "Don't you see anything odd with what's drawn in here?"

"Ah only see four hexagons. Why?"

"The keys, Applejack! They look like the piano keys!" she said turning to the instrument. "Somehow I think they are related."

"Now that ya mentioned, they look kinda similar. So what?" Applejack asked raising a golden eyebrow.

"And see how there are red numbers written on the piano?"

"Uh, yeah…" she scratched her head uncomfortably. "What do you want with this?"

"I bet this is some sort of super code!" Pinkie chirped excitedly. "We need to solve the mystery behind this piano and find the code using this paper."

"And how did you come to this conclusion?" Applejack asked skeptically.

"Errr… I just did. You'll see I'm right!"

Applejack sighed and decided to leave Pinkie trying to figure that weird code of hers alone. Sometimes she could be so random! There they were, trying to find their missing friends AND a way to escape from that trap that they called a mansion, and she was more concerned about a code that may or may not exist, and that may or may not be useful. But they have already agreed in meeting Rarity and Fluttershy in that room, so even if she convinced Pinkie that what she was doing was nonsense (which kind of was), they still had to wait for their other two friends there.

Without much to do, she started investigating the room. Maybe she could find something useful there. Meanwhile, Pinkie was comparing the drawings with the piano keys. The first thing she noticed was the difference of the number of drawings and red numbers.

"But there are three numbers for four keys. Where is the fourth number?" she thought.

She took a pen from her pocket and decided to take notes. The numbers were 2, 3 and 9. If her line of thought was right, the first and third numbers had to be, respectively, 2 and 3, since the first and third drawing were identical to the keys marked with the numbers. So she marked under the first and third drawings the numbers 2 and 3.

But what about the other two numbers?

Pinkie tilted her head to the side and narrowed her blue eyes, making a weird face as she thought. The other drawings looked like the keys, only they were upside down. She inverted the paper to compare better. Doing that, the drawings matched perfectly. But inverting the drawing just wouldn't do it. Maybe she could think better if the keys were turned upside down, instead of the drawing.

Wait a second…

"Ah! That's it! I need to turn the numbers upside down too!" she thought happily.

She tilted her head to the side even more, until she had more or less a vision of the numbers turned upside down. The second drawing looked like the key with the 9, only looking that way, the number turned into a 6.

"The second number is six," Pinkie thought, marking a six in the paper without changing positions.

The last drawing looked like the key with the 2. However, turning upside down, the 2 turned into a 5. So it's not that there was a number missing. They were all there! She just needed to look at them differently. Pinkie marked a 5 under the last key with a big grin on her face.

"Applejack, guess what! The code is 2635!" she said looking up. "And you thought…"

She quickly felt silent, shock and fear making her face grow pale. The monster was right on the other side of the piano, glaring at her with cold onyx eyes. She got her weapon that she left on the floor with shaken hands and stood there, unable to react.

"A-Applejack…" she whispered, though not looking at her friend's direction, so the thing wouldn't spot her.

Applejack, who noticed the monster entering the room way before her, was tip-toeing in its direction. She tried moving her lips to ask Pinkie to calm down. But the bright pink haired girl wasn't even thinking properly and it took about three seconds for her to snap.

"Ahhhhh! I don't want to be gobbled up!" Pinkie screamed.

"Oh, for the love of…"

As if that was some sort of command, the monster turned around the piano ready to attack the desperate Pinkie Pie. Applejack ran too, delivering a kick on the creature's butt in order to distract it. The monster turned around in annoyance and tried attacking her instead. Pinkie then took the opportunity to try to hit it in the back, but the monster had heard her coming, so it turned around once more and slashed the air with its claws, making her almost get hit and back away.

"YoU… Won'T… EscApE…" it grunted.

"Not again!" Applejack thought.

The monster prepared to unleash the same painful purple wave of energy again. Applejack closed her eyes, ready to embrace the pain. Pinkie Pie ran and hit its left shoulder with the mace, impeding the attack and making the monster even more furious.

"Pinkie!" Applejack shouted as she saw the monster manage to scratch her left check.

With green eyes burning in hate, Applejack tried to kick and punch the monster as much as possible, before it grabbed her wrist and threw her against the wall. Pinkie once again used the mace, this time hitting it on the head.

In pain and dizzy because of the sudden blow, the monster grunted something unintelligible and started to disappear before any of the two girls could finish it off. They stared at that in disbelief, but still felt some relief that the monster was gone. A little more, and things could have gone worse.

"Are ya alright?" Applejack asked getting up.

"I'll be okay," Pinkie assured her with a smile.

"Can you believe that that thing can appear and disappear like that?" she asked looking at where the monster was a few seconds ago. "We need to get outta here before things get worse than they already are."

"Yeah…" she then remembered the paper she left on the piano and went to get it. "Applejack, look! I've found the code!"

The blonde face palmed. One would think that, after suffering another attack from that monster, you'd actually be more concerned about yourself, and not about some stupid code.

"Pinkie, we don't have time for this! Besides, do you even know what this code is for?"

"To protect something important, silly! I bet this is for some safe."

"Uh…"

"Did you happen to find any safes around here?" Pinkie asked, ignoring the other's skepticism.

"Now that ya mentioned, ah've spotted something odd between the bookshelves. Ah was going to move them to take a better look when that thing appeared."

The two went to the bookshelves and moved the one in the left out of its place, revealing a black safe on the wall.

"Ha, looks like I was right," Pinkie said full of herself. "And you said this was a waste of time!"

"Ah'll only take that back if your code opens this thing," Applejack crossed her arms.

That said, Pinkie managed to open the safe and take a key and a clock out from it. She raised a pink eyebrow at her friend as if saying "I won".

"Fine, sorry for doubtin' you…"

"I accept your apologies," Pinkie said with a huge grin.


	4. False memories

A few seconds later, Rarity and Fluttershy entered the piano room. Both looked pretty shaken (Rarity more than Fluttershy, though) but they didn't need to say a word for Applejack to deduce that they have encountered the monster.

"Ya got attacked too, uh," Applejack said by impulse.

"I thought Pinkie had killed that thing. What was it doing in the first floor chasing us?"

"For the same reason it came here and attacked us. Looks like the monster wasn't quite dead."

"Yeah…" Fluttershy sighed.

"And what's worse, my magic doesn't seem to work here," Rarity said looking bitterly at the wand in her hand.

"That can't be good," Applejack frowned. "It looks like this house really is doin' its best to keep us inside."

"Sure, I'm not the most magical person in Equestria, but it's still a horrible sensation to have your magic suddenly not working…"

"If it's like that, you really need to find something to defend yourself with. Ya can't run around this place like this."

"It's okay. We'll find something for you," Pinkie smiled, not actually knowing what to say to make Rarity feel better.

"Pinkie, where did this clock come from?" Rarity asked noticing the object on her friend's hands.

"Oh, we found it in the safe. Pretty cool, right?" she said showing the clock.

Rarity got the object to take a better look at it. The pointers looked like they've gone nuts, with one of them actually spinning counterclockwise, which made Rarity frown and give the clock back to Pinkie Pie.

"Just throw this away. It's useless."

"Then why was this in a safe?" Pinkie asked looking confused at the clock.

"Ah don't know, but keep this just in case. After that whole thing with the code, everythin' looks like a clue to get outta here," Applejack said.

"Well, maybe when Twilight returns she can fix this with her magic," Rarity said and turned to the door, as if expecting Twilight to enter the room right in that instant. "By the way, she's taking too long to come here, don't you think?"

Rarity was taken aback by the strange looks she received from her friends. The way they looked at her made her look like she was crazy or something like that. She frowned in confusion and crossed her arms.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?"

"Well, no but…"

"Actually, yes," Applejack said interrupting Fluttershy, who just looked away. "Don'tcha remember? Twilight is missing; we are tryin' to find her."

"What's this nonsense?! Twilight isn't missing! How can you be so insensible?" Rarity exclaimed.

"Yeah, Applejack! Twilight isn't missing. She went out to search for clues to find Rainbow Dash," Pinkie said in defense of her.

"B-But Rainbow's in the library now…" now Applejack was really confused. "Ah mean…"

"I thought both Twilight and Rainbow were missing…" Fluttershy whispered.

There was an awkward silence between the four friends. What was happening with them? Why suddenly their memories were getting confusing to the point no one was sure what happened a few hours ago anymore? Applejack didn't even believe that Rainbow Dash was in the library anymore. She knew nothing at that point.

Minutes of exchanging uncomfortable glances at each other passed until someone actually decided to say something.

"T-This is really creeping me out…" Pinkie shivered. "Why isn't my memory working?"

"If ah knew…"

"Hum… so, what do we do now?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, we can't just sit here and wait for them to appear. I mean, what if they are really missing and we are just wasting time?" Rarity sighed.

"Ah think we should all go first check if Rainbow is really in the library, or if Twilight is in one of the rooms in the second floor. If they aren't there, we go check the…" Applejack stopped to read what was written on the key. "Studio, to see what we can find there!"

"Sounds good enough for me!" Let's… AHHH!" Pinkie shouted as she tripped over her untied shoelace. Thanks to that incident, the clock on her hands fell on the floor and broke.

"Pinkie, are ya alright?" Applejack asked in concern.

"I-It's okay… but now the clock is broken," she said getting up.

All of a sudden, Rarity's vision started to get blurred and her legs were losing their balance. For some odd reason the world around her was spinning; but before she could ask to herself what the heck was going on, her mind gave in and she fell unconscious on the floor.

* * *

><p>"<em>W-What happened?" Rarity asked as she got up, rubbing the side of her head. "For a moment I blacked out…"<em>

_She muffed a scream of surprise at the scene she was seeing right in front of her. First of all, she shouldn't be standing in the hall on the first floor. Last time she checked, she was in the piano room. But what really shocked her was seeing a second Rarity standing in front of her, talking to her other five friends. _

_What was going on? Was that a dream?_

"_Girls…"_

"_W-Well, it sure is clean here," Fluttershy commented looking around, though not quite wanting to leave her spot._

"_Yeah, what a let down," Rainbow Dash grunted. "I was hoping something more exciting to see."_

"_Thank Celestia this place isn't what you expected to be. The Everfree Forest is already creepy and dirty as it is, we don't need this mansion to match its creepiness," the other Rarity said, her blue eyes showing relief for such a light and clean sight. _

"_Now can we go back?" Fluttershy asked with pleading eyes._

_Now that seemed familiar._

_Of course, Rarity remembered that happening. She was reviving what happened when they entered the house. What she was seeing was just a memory. Maybe that would help her organize her thoughts and remember who went missing, so she continued watching the event silently._

_She remembered that soon they would hear the sound of something breaking and Applejack would leave to investigate. As soon as she leaves, the monster would appear and they would all run away in fear._

"_What was that?" Applejack asked as they heard the sound._

"_I dunno. I'll go see what happened," Rainbow Dash said._

_Applejack grabbed her arm before she could leave. "Ah'll go with you. Ah just don't like standing here," she said._

_Rainbow shrugged her shoulders and the two left, leaving the other four girls standing in the hall. Not even two minutes passed and the monster had already showed up, making Pinkie scream and the four of them run._

"_Wait a second, this is wrong," Rarity thought as she saw herself running away upstairs with Twilight, while the monster chased Pinkie and Fluttershy. "T-This didn't happen… It seems familiar, yes, but it didn't happen like this."_

_The scene suddenly seemed to reset itself and Rarity saw herself and her friends standing in the hall again. She blinked a few times in surprise, but said nothing and continued to watch what would happen._

"_I wonder what a mansion as nice as this one is doing here in the Everfree Forest. Who would live here?" Twilight wondered._

"_I'm sure it's an eccentric rich guy. The rich are always eccentric," Pinkie Pie said looking around. "Maybe this mansion got boring to him and he decided to live in a weirder location."_

"_Now you're not making sense…" Twilight shook her head._

"_Please, let's leave already," Fluttershy whimpered._

"_After all the trouble we had to find it? Let's just stay a little longer," Rainbow Dash said. "I'm sure we…"_

_Rainbow couldn't even finish the sentence and the monster had already showed up. Rarity bit her lower lip as she saw everyone running away in different directions and the monster running after Fluttershy. _

_That also wasn't right. They didn't even hear the sound of something breaking coming from the other room. Her mind was playing tricks on her again. Rarity squeezed her eyes shut and tried to make that imagery go away, only to be replaced by another one._

"_Well, ain't this a huge surprise? This place has electricity workin'!" Applejack exclaimed while looking at the lamps on the roof._

"_How can the ghosts expect to scare people if this place is so light?" Pinkie Pie asked._

"_Pinkie, you know that this place isn't actually haunted, right?" the other Rarity said._

_Until there everything was okay. Some commentaries about the house, the crashing noise and Applejack leaving to see what happened on the other room. Just like she remembered._

_The monster should appear at any second, Pinkie Pie would scream and they would run away as fast as they could._

"_Rarity, watch out!" Fluttershy screamed._

_To Rarity's surprise, the monster appeared right behind her, ready to crave its claws on her. Fluttershy, surprisingly quick, pushed her to the side and avoided her certain death. The other three girls' eyes widened in horror as the monster grunted in frustration and grabbed Fluttershy by the waist, taking her away as fast as it entered the room._

"_No, no, NO! This didn't happen!" Rarity thought, hearing the horrified yells from her friends and herself. "This definitely didn't happen!"_

_Once again the scene dissolved and, once again, it was replaced by another. The purple haired took a deep breath and sighed in relief. She then concentrated on the six girls standing in the middle of the hall, hoping that was what really happened._

"_Wow, you'd think that for an abandoned mansion this place would be a lot messier," Twilight commented._

"_Yeah, this looks even tidier than your place Twi," Pinkie joked._

_All of a sudden, they heard the sound of something breaking coming from the corridor in their right. Fluttershy jumped and hid behind the other Rarity, who held her hand like if saying it was okay._

"_What was that?" the light pink haired girl shrieked._

"_Sounded like something fell off and broke," Rainbow Dash said._

"_Ah'll see what happened. Wait here for me," Applejack said walking in direction of the sound._

"_Be careful!" the other Rarity warned, only to be answered with a thumbs up gesture from Applejack._

_This memory! Yes, she remembered clearly now._

_The monster appeared from the corridor that lead to the living room, making Pinkie scream in terror and them separate. Everything was getting clearer as Rarity saw herself running upstairs with Fluttershy, only to later the two go into different directions. She went hide on the first unlocked room she found, while Fluttershy ran to the third floor, still being chased._

"_I remember now…"_

* * *

><p>"Please, please Rarity! Wake up," Pinkie wailed. The pink haired girl was shaking the other's shoulder, not paying attention to what Applejack said about that being useless. "Rari-tyyyyyy…"<p>

Rarity mumbled something incoherent and slowly opened her eyes. Her head was hurting a lot and she just had no idea for how long she's been out. She sat up, her head still pretty sore, and looked at her three friends around her, their faces showing extreme concern for her.

"Rarity, are you alright? Do you feel dizzy or wanting to throw up?" Fluttershy asked.

"W-What…? No, no, I'm fine," Rarity said trying to get up. Applejack put a hand on her shoulder and forced her to remain sit. "Girls, I'm okay. Don't worry."

"Rarity, ya blacked out for a good couple of minutes! This is not okay. Pinkie even thought you were dead," Applejack scolded Pinkie Pie, who gave an embarrassed smile at her. "Of course, she was exaggerating, seein' you still had a pulse. But still…"

"I don't know what just happened either. I only know this happened after Pinkie broke the clock."

"So?"

"Well, it is pretty odd if you think about it. Right after the clock is broken I faint."

"You mean it's all the clock's fault?" Pinkie asked.

"I don't know, but it sure was a huge coincidence," Rarity groaned and rubbed her head. "If that wasn't enough, I just had one of the weirdest dreams."

"What kind of dream?" Applejack tilted her head to the side.

"How can I explain? Hum… See, I've had these visions. They showed us entering this mansion, but the sequences never happened the right way. I've seen Rainbow going to check where the noise came from with you. I've seen the monster appear right after we enter the hall, and there was even a scene where the monster appeared and took Fluttershy away…"

Rarity felt dead silent at that and looked uneasy at her friend. Though she felt relief for that being just a dream and seeing Fluttershy safe and unharmed, that vision of her friend being dragged away from them, so the monster could do Celestia knows what to her was still pretty disturbing, if not horrible.

Now that she stopped to think about it, in all those visions the monster seemed to have a preference over Fluttershy. Every time it appeared, it decided to chase her (as well as whoever was with her). Was it because she had a more timid aura and looked more fragile than the rest of them? What was with that thing?

For a split of second Rarity could swear she saw fear in her friends blue eyes, but it faded away before she could even blink.

"He just took me away? Wow, what did I do to make him act like that?" Fluttershy asked.

"It was about to attack me, but you pushed me to the side and saved me. The monster got furious and kidnapped you," the purple haired woman laughed nervously. "But of course that was just a weird dream. Let's not think much about it."

"Ah can't say it was just a dream. When the clock broke, ah started having some weird visions too," Applejack said.

"Oh, me too!" Pinkie Pie said raising her hand. "It wasn't bad enough to make me faint, but I saw things too."

"S-So I guess we all had…" Fluttershy fidgeted her fingers nervously.

Rarity got up and fixed up her skirt and white shirt. Seeing Fluttershy's nervous expression, she waved a hand at her and smiled.

"Don't worry, darling. Even though I had these visions, dreams, whatever they were, I finally managed to organize my thoughts and remember what really happened. Looks like Rainbow and Twilight are really both missing."

"Ya sure? Mah memory is not in the best shape, so ah'll trust you in what you say," Applejack said.

"Uhum, I'm definitely sure. Let's go to the studio see if we can find more clues," Rarity said.

The three girls exited the room, without noticing Fluttershy was left behind. The girl sighed and passed her fingers through the piano's yellowish and black keys distractively.

They sure were making progress. At this rate, they should be able to find Twilight and Rainbow Dash in no time. She really hoped everyone could be reunited soon. The more they stood separated, the more the chances of the monster getting them.

"_And the more likely my plan will ruin," _she thought.

What would Rarity think if she discovered what was on her mind? She would probably be really mad and not even trust her anymore. She could see Rarity reacting like that. Applejack and Rainbow Dash would shout at her, and maybe get even angrier, while Twilight would shake her head in disappointment and say that what she would do was crazy. Pinkie was probably the only one who would outburst in tears and beg for her to stop.

Her stomach was burning with nervousness as old plans started to dissolve and new plans make up in her brain. No, she couldn't give up at this point and change everything. It was better to stick up with the original plan. That was the only possibility.

"_They sure will be mad,_ _but I'm not making a mistake. It's for their own good. I'm positive about that."_

Her thoughts were interrupted by the light sounds of steps coming from outside. Fluttershy quickly moved her fingers away from the keys and looked at the newcomer at the door.

"Fluttershy, what are you doing? Come on before the monster appears!" Rarity said.

"Sorry, Rarity. I was just distracted," she said walking to the other's side.

"You do seem to be spacing out a lot recently. Try to pay more attention to what you're doing, okay?"

"'Kay," Fluttershy smiled.


	5. Another clock to go and more memories

The four friends went back to the first floor to find the door that lead to the studio. They walked to the living room and went to the door, which led to the corridor Rarity and Fluttershy unlocked minutes ago, before being chased by the monster. Reaching the end of the corridor, they saw another door on the wall at their left. Applejack put the key on the hole and unlocked it, revealing a white room on the other side. A bookshelf and a white table we're the only things decorating it, and there was a square rug covering almost the entire wooden floor.

"Well, here we are," Applejack said with her hands on her pockets. "Now what?"

"There really doesn't seem much we can do here, it seems," Rarity commented.

"No, no, you can't think like that," Pinkie said walking around the room, scanning the floor and the mobile with determined blue eyes. "This mansion is full of tricks, remember? I'm sure there's a clue around here."

"Ah never though ah would say this, but Pinkie's right," Applejack said, though trying to swallow her pride. It was a really awkward situation when the most cloud cuckoo lander of all of them seemed to have the most reason. "Let's search this place better."

Pinkie Pie went to the table and decided to move the chair to the side, so she could have a better view of what was under it. It was only when she crouched under the table that she noticed the hidden small red button. Without thinking too much about it, she pressed the button. The bookshelf on the other side of the room then moved to the right, revealing the door it was hiding.

"Pinkie, how did you do that?" Rarity asked surprised.

"There was a button under the table and I pressed it," Pinkie said crawling away from the table. She got up and looked at the door with a satisfied smile. "See what I mean with "this place is full of tricks" ? We just need to look better."

"Who are you and what have ya done with Pinkie?" Applejack humored for the first time since they arrived at the mansion. "Good job, sugar cube."

Rarity then unlocked the door and the four entered the room. This one didn't even have any mobiles, just a cell that made up half the room. There was a faint silver light being reflected by a small key inside the cell, which immediately caught their attention.

Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy went to the cell, while Rarity, just for precaution, locked the door so they wouldn't be caught by any surprises and then went join the others to see where that key went. The word "BASEMENT" was written in worn letters on the shank of the key, and it came to no surprise to them that that mansion had a basement, considering how big it was.

However, as they prepared to leave, the familiar sound of footsteps could be heard on the other side of the door. The four girls' faces grew pale and their breathing became sharp, but none said a word or emitted any sound. They waited a few seconds until the noise stopped, but they were still unsure if it was safe to leave.

"W-What do we do now?" Fluttershy whispered clinging to Rarity's arm.

"Ah have an idea. Rarity, give me this door's key," Applejack whispered with a hand extended to her.

Rarity raised an eyebrow and gave the key to Applejack, though she already had more or less an idea of what the other was thinking. "What are going to do?" the question came out more by impulse than by actual curiosity.

"Don't leave this room until ah say it's safe, understand? Ah'll go see if the thing left," Applejack whispered. She was heading to the door, when Fluttershy's hand grabbed her arm, making her stop and look at her.

"Please, please, Applejack! Don't do this!" she pleaded. "What if he is actually out there, waiting to grab you? Don't do this! It's too risky!"

"Then ah'll run really fast and make it stay away from you guys," she gently pushed Fluttershy's hand away. "Don't forget that ah'm one of the fastest girls in Ponyville. Ah'm not goin' to let it get me that easily," she whispered with a confident smile.

Fluttershy gulped and went back to Rarity and Pinkie Pie, both also extremely uncomfortable with the blonde's plan. Applejack unlocked the door, hoping that, if luck was at her side, the monster would really have left and her speech would have been in vain.

But of course, she wasn't graced with that kind of luck.

The monster was indeed outside, waiting for her. But at least she was lucky enough that it wasn't that close to the door, so she could dodge its claws before they could reach her flesh and run away from the room as fast as she could. Of course she would fight if she had no other option, but running gave you less chances of being injured. Or eaten, in that case.

Applejack ran to the living room, looking back only once just to see if the thing was still chasing her. She never thought she would think that, but thankfully it was. She then dashed through the entrance hall and headed to the library, where she would have all the space to run and tire the monster.

She zigzagged through the bookshelves, being careful to not be cornered by the monster like it happened last time. Her mind and body were filled with adrenaline and fear, giving her extra energy to continue running as her heart raced at the same speed she was.

It was only after sometime that she remembered the library's key was still in her pocket.

"That's it!"

Applejack dashed to the exit and unlocked door. Once outside the library, she slammed the door as hard as she could and locked it. Applejack took a few steps back as she heard the monster punching it and trying to get out. Knowing that it wouldn't be there forever, she took the opportunity to run away back to the living room and hide behind one of the sofas, since she wasn't sure if it was totally okay to return to her friends.

She waited a couple of minutes behind the sofa, recovering her breath and paying attention to any suspicious sound that could happen.

The room was entirely silent.

"_Ah think it's gone,_" she thought, gathering the courage to get up. Good thing it stopped chasing her, or else she would have panicked. She thought she would get used to that horrible creature by the time she saw it again, but looking into its haunting black eyes and sharps claws, Applejack realized she didn't feel any less frightened than before.

But her friends didn't need to know that. They were as scared as her; she needed to be strong for them.

Applejack looked around her just in case and then returned to the studio. As soon as she stepped into the room, she was greeted by a very worried Pinkie Pie, who hugged her so tightly that it made it difficult for her to breathe.

"Applejack, I'm so glad you're okay! Thank Celestia you are alive!" she exclaimed in relief.

"Pinkie… ah can't breathe…" Applejack struggled against her (surprisingly) strong arms. "Let go…"

"Oops, sorry!" Pinkie said immediately letting go of her.

"Oh, Applejack, I'm so sorry for making you pass through this," Rarity said in concern. "Are you alright?"

"Ah'm okay. Escapin' from that monster was even easier than ah thought."

"Still, I really wish you didn't do anything like that anymore. We were sickly worried, you know?" Rarity crossed her arms.

"Fine, ah won't. But at least that thing won't bother us for a while."

"Oh, while you were… um… out, Applejack, we found another clock," Fluttershy said pointing to a clock, identical to the one Pinkie broke by mistake, on the table. "We were just waiting (and hoping) for you to return so we could decide what to do with it."

"Well, seein' that breakin' the clock only brings us false memories and messes up with our heads, it would be better if we left it like it is now, right?"

"I agree with Applejack. Maybe we should leave the clock alone and continue…"

"Sorry for interrupting, Fluttershy, but I think we should break the clock," Rarity announced.

"Come again?" Applejack said raising an eyebrow.

"Look, I know that by breaking it a lot of false memories appear, but it also helped me remember what happened when we entered the house."

"What do ya want with this?"

"Oh, I get what Rarity is saying," Pinkie said grabbing the object from the table. "Even with all those false memories, you still managed to know what was true and what wasn't. So if we break this clock, we'll remember what we've been doing in this mansion, even with all the fake visions being thrown in the middle."

"Considering that for a period of time we forgot who of our friends was missing, who knows what else we don't remember? Won't you feel better if you knew?"

"Come to think of it, it seems like mah memory is gettin' worse as the time here passes," Applejack let out a frustrated sigh. "Being in this place really is stressing. Alright, break the clock."

Pinkie gladly threw the object on the floor and even stomped on it to make sure it was destroyed. Rarity took a deep breath and concentrated on what was coming next. This time she didn't faint, but her vision became foggy and soon her mind was teleported to another place.

* * *

><p><em>Rarity really didn't expect that to happen. For some reason she was having a vision of herself and her friends standing in a totally unknown room. Granted her memory was still a little messed up, but she would have remembered if she's been already there. What's worse was that Twilight and Rainbow Dash were also with them, despite them being missed the whole time since the monster first showed up.<em>

_Maybe the fake memories didn't apply only to places where they have already been, or situations they have already passed. After all, they were false for a reason. But they were also supposed to be based off from her memories…_

"_Oh, this is getting way too confusing!" Rarity thought. "But I might as well watch it anyway…" she didn't know if it was intuition, or just morbid curiosity, but she wanted to know where that vision was going to end._

_The six girls looked extremely agitated, and judging by the constant banging coming from the door behind them, Rarity already knew why._

"_I don't want to be eaten by the monster!" Pinkie sobbed._

"_Nobody's going to be eaten, Pinkie! Just… just calm down! I can't think properly with you crying," Rainbow Dash said, switching her glance between Pinkie Pie and the door._

"_There must be a way outta this place," Applejack said._

"_If you know any way out, we'd be glad to hear it!" the other Rarity said, also starting to panic as the door showed signs of not being able to resist any longer._

_One thing that Rarity noticed was that Fluttershy was awfully close to the door. If she stayed there, the chances of the monster getting her were very high. As the image of Fluttershy being dragged away by the creature came back to her mind, Rarity's eyes grew wider and she desperately shouted for her to get away from the door._

_But of course, this being just a vision, her friend wouldn't hear her._

"_It's alright, Rarity. You will escape; all of you will escape," Fluttershy said in a rather calm voice, despite her face showing nothing but fear. _

"_Fluttershy…" was all Rarity could mutter._

"_As soon as he gets here, I want you… I want you to run away as fast as you can. Don't ever look back and just continue running," her voice started to get shaken, and it was clear that she was trying hard to swallow a sob. Her entire body was trembling. "I'm… I'm s-sure this time…"_

"_What do you mean with this?" Rarity asked in a growing panic._

_Finally the door gave in and the monster got in, its eyes locked on the girl in front of it. Fluttershy gave one last look to her five friends before turning to the creature._

"_Please, promise me this, Rarity!"_

"_Fluttershy!" the five screamed in unison as the monster brought its claws up._

"_NO!" Rarity shouted._

_She turned her face away as the monster brought its claws down. She didn't want to see that. _

"_This isn't real! This never happened!" she thought desperately. "Wake up, Rarity! Wake up, this is a nightmare!"_

_That never happened._

* * *

><p>Rarity blinked a few times and slowly started to regain her senses. Pinkie once again was shaking her shoulder, only this time a lot more gently. She noticed some tears were rolling down her cheeks, so she quickly swept them away, hoping her make-up wasn't ruined with that.<p>

"Rarity, you okay?" Pinkie asked taking her hand off her shoulder.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," she stuttered rather pathetically.

"Wow, looks like these memories really affect ya more than anyone of us," Applejack said.

"Maybe breaking the clock wasn't such a good idea…" Fluttershy said, her voice almost inaudible.

Rarity took a deep breath and tried calming herself down. She then looked at Fluttershy.

She was alive and well, thank goodness.

"Um… are you sure you are okay?" Fluttershy asked noticing her pale face.

"Darling, I will be fine. Don't worry."

However, despite that being a dream, Rarity couldn't shrug off that horrible feeling that something was really wrong with her friend. She couldn't explain it, she didn't even know if that made sense, but somehow something was off with Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Are you… hurt somewhere?"

The shy girl looked at her with very confused eyes. Rarity then realized how stupid that question was and her cheeks grew a light shade of pink.

"Um, no, I'm not. Why do you ask?" Fluttershy said with a half-smile.

"Oh, it's nothing, I just wanted to know. Sorry about that," Rarity quickly said, wanting to end the awkward conversation. She turned her attention to Pinkie Pie and Applejack. "So, anything interesting?"

"Ah followed what you did and concentrated on what was true and ignore what was fake. But this time everythin' seemed false," Applejack said scratching the back of her head. "This clock was of no use at all. At least to me."

"For me it was almost the same. The only thing that I think it was true was me running from the monster and hiding in a room with a lamp."

"With a what?" Rarity asked.

"Long story, and yes, Pinkie, that happened. I saw you there," Applejack sighed. "What about ya? What diddya see that made you cry like that?"

"I-It doesn't matter. It wasn't true anyway," she waved her hand as if saying for them to ignore it.

"So it was a total waste of time. Maybe we shouldn't break the clocks anymore," Fluttershy rubbed her arm nervously. "Let's continue. I have the feeling that we are closer to finding where Twilight and Rainbow are."

"Wait, what about you, Fluttershy? Anything interesting?" Pinkie asked innocently.

Fluttershy paused for a while, her face unreadable, before forcing a smile.

"No, nothing at all. I'm as confused as you."

"Oh well, we tried. Off to the basement we go!" Pinkie Pie chirped and left the room, being followed by Applejack and Fluttershy.

Rarity stayed behind, looking at the broken object on the floor with a mixed expression on her face. She thought the clocks served only to confuse them, yet help them with their memories at the same time. But what she saw… it wasn't a memory, not even a fake one. It was something else; that she was sure.

"_What if they don't want to mess with us?_"

Giving one last look at the clock, she left the room, having to run a little to catch up with her friends.

"_What if they are trying to warn us about something…?"_

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, guys, I'm back. I'm really sorry about my non-oficial hiatus. It's just that things had been a bit crazy but I'm back to writing. And I've felt so sorry, that I've decided to upload two chapters. ;)<strong>

**As for W.J. Fost's review, yes, I am remaining "atomically" incorrect about the ponies. Like I said on the notes in chapter one, the ponies in this story are human. Now it's up to you to imagine their human forms.**

**Anyway, that's it. I hope I can manage to upload chapter 6 soon! **


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